Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
The doors to the Arrivals opened and nineteen-year-old Ahn Mari stepped through them, her bright yellow carrier behind her. Her eyes scanned the crowd until she found a poster with familiar handwriting that said "MARY" in a glittery font. Mari grinned brightly and walked through the crowd, excusing herself with a bow — something that she learned in Korea — until she reached the pair of hands that was holding up the poster.
In front of her stood a woman in a padded jacket and long dirty-blonde hair. Her nose was the same as Mari's and the way she stood and smiled was exactly like her daughter. "My baby!" The woman said and hugged her daughter, almost dropping the poster.
"You're so beautiful!" Mrs Ahn said and stared at her gorgeous daughter. The Canadian woman gently stroked the cheeks of her daughter and touched her hair. "Your hair is so long and that gingerish-brown is such a pretty colour on you..." Mrs Ahn had tears in her green-eyes and Mari smiled.
"Mum, no need to tear up!" - "It's been almost three years since I held you in my arms, munchkin! Of course, I am going to cry! Just wait until Dad sees you!" Mrs Ahn smiled and softly pressed a kiss on her daughters head. "I'm glad you dressed warmly", she said looking down on her daughter's attire.
Mari was wearing black denim jeans and warm Timberlands to a fluffy, light blue teddy bear coat and a big white scarf (which was actually a gift from Mark since he couldn't join her on her trip to Vancouver). "It got pretty cold in Seoul the last few days so I decided to pack my winter stuff in my suitcase." She smiled while her Mother picked up the poster and held her hand, while they walked out of the airport.
"Your Dad almost called in sick just to come and pick you up from the airport. For the past three days, he has been telling everyone his famous K-Pop daughter is coming back." - "K-Pop daughter?" Mari asked and her mother laughed. "I said, 'Youngho, you're going to scare our family friends away!' but he insisted on inviting them over for a welcome home party."
Mari looked at her mother. "You guys are throwing a party?" She said and sighed. "I came all the way from Seoul to celebrate a party with your friends?" She asked and her mother laughed. "Oh no! We invited some of your old friends, Mary! It's going to be great!"
They reached their car — a silver Lexus — and Mari threw her suitcase in the trunk before climbing into the passenger seat. "When you say 'old friends'... who exactly did you invite?" Mari put on the seatbelt and took her phone out of her pocket. She quickly checked the lockscreen for any notifications — but it was only a message from Sora asking her to message her once she reached her house and a message from Changbin in her Groupchat with Chaeyoung and him.
"Youngho and I invited Austin, Charlie and Dorothy!" Mrs Ahn said and Mari opened her mouth. The names were familiar and Mari remembered trying to keep in touch with them during her Trainee days, but she hadn't contacted them ever since she got her phone taken away by Go Juyeon and she only got it back after she debuted in April.
"You know Mum... I haven't really spoken to them since I left. Juyeon-sshi took my phone away when I started becoming a Trainee..." - "They seemed thrilled to see you again, though!" Mrs Ahn said. "Austin's mum told me he is an exciting mess!" Mari nodded at her Mum's words and looked out of the window.
"We had to rebuild our friendships with our neighbours once we came back to Vancouver in 2017", her mother continued, knowing Mari was feeling awkward about re-meeting her old friends. "We never wanted to leave you behind in Seoul", her mother continued, remembering the year 2015, where the Ahn family had to move to South Korea for two years due to Mr Ahn's work.
No one had guessed, that Mari would pass an audition and would stay in Korea. But when her parents moved back to Vancouver in 2017, they decided — together with Mari — to leave her behind. Blue Soda Entertainment had already set a date for her debut and she couldn't just leave again.
Her goal was to meet Mark. And back then, being an Idol was the only chance she could have to see him again.
"Mum, it was the best for me to leave me behind." The girl said and looked at her mother that was carefully driving through the winter-ish looking city. "I was so close on debuting back then, I signed a contract and was recording 'X' already." The young woman said and her mother nodded.
"It was weird having an empty house all of a sudden." Her mother slightly smiled. "So please just pretend to have fun tonight, okay?" Her mother asked and Mari smiled. "Sure." She went to look out of the window when her phone rang. It was the name of her manager, Sora. "Sorry, Mum. I have to answer that." She said and swiped the screen.
"여보세요?" Mari asked and her mother turned to her, surprised by how perfect her daughters Korean had become. Mrs Ahn and her husband were watching every show, Mari was attending, watching tons of her performance videos and reading a lot of her articles that were posted.
They kept track of everything she did while being an Idol. But hearing her actually speaking Korean on the phone, remembering how she refused to learn her father's mother tongue when she was younger ached in Mrs Ahn's heart. Her tiny Mary was almost grown up and matured a lot in the few years that she was living alone in Korea.
She looked at her daughter, that was chatting with someone that seemed close to her, before concentrating on the street in front of her.
